


Birds And Flowers

by FelixLovesPrinces



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Abusive Parents, Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Hanahaki, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety Attacks, Blood, Depression, Drinking, Drinking to Cope, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hanahaki Disease, Hook-Up, Implied Sexual Content, Insomnia, Jealousy, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Panic Attacks, Possible Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Denial, Self-Destruction, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-05-24 23:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14964236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FelixLovesPrinces/pseuds/FelixLovesPrinces
Summary: Robyn, Hannah, and lots of other people have known each other since high school. They were extremely close friends, extremely quickly. But then things start going downhill because Robyn get's sick and moves away.Two years later Robyn and Hannah meet again, Robyn still being sick does his best containing himself during this time, but then King shows up and there are several fights with several people.And maybe the police gets involved.Who knows.-----akaThe hanahaki disease AU I have been dying to write.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleRoses](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRoses/gifts).



MONDAY 05/ 08/ 2013 08:10 am

Robyn made his way through the halls of his new high school. His posture and walk seemed to show off pride and confidence, however, his eyes were filled with horror and anxiety. He was good at hiding emotions like these. A messenger bag was slung over his shoulder, it filled with books, pens and other school supplies.

The bag was old and vintage, something that didn’t stop Robyn from bringing it. It had small robin’s feathers embroidered into the brown leather, which really completed the overall look of it. 

He was wearing a simple, grey sleeveless hoodie and black jeans. Besides that, a beanie that helped contain his extremely messy hair just a little bit. His boots made a soft sound as he walked on the stone floor, it was barely audible though seen as the sound of the students in the halls were able to overpower the noise with ease.

In his hand, he had a small notebook where he has written his timetable down. His eyes glued to the paper, ‘210, 210’ he continued in his head. It was the classroom he had to go, and honestly, he had no idea where it was. 

He looked up just in time before bumping into a girl who appeared just as lost as him. “Oh! My apologies-” he said and quickly continued to walk through the halls. ‘Nice first impression-’ a little voice in his head said, but he ignored it.

It didn’t take long until he found classroom 208, close enough. From here on out it was easy to find 210. He entered the classroom, not many people were there yet. The teacher was though, which explained why the door was already open.

One quick glimpse around the room already showed several stereotypes he knew he was going to see here. He saw an art kid- a girl who appeared to only be about 15- she either skipped a grade or just appears young. She was small, but she still got enough attention; her hair was brightly coloured, and so were her clothes. Pencils and markers were spread on her table, she appeared to be drawing a cartoon character.

His eyes then fall on two- girls? Or guys? It was unclear. They were the exact opposite of the young girl, wearing only black, and having dark makeup and dyed hair. Then there was the queer kid, he just had this ‘vibe’. (The bi flag embroidery on his hoodie with ‘pride’ under it really didn’t help) Ro found himself looking at this guy a little longer than he intended.

He decided this was enough for watching random students, he somehow tends to observe the people around him. He finds a place to sit near one of the windows and takes it. He puts his bag down and grabs a pen and his biology book and notebook.

He sighs as he leans back in his chair a little, he has gotten like two more minutes before the lesson would start. He takes his beanie off and brushes his hair out of his face. This was going to be a long first day. 

He puts his beanie back on and organises the stuff on his desk a little out of boredom, bit by bit he noticed his glance travelling to this guy again. He didn’t mind. He saw that the kid had dark brown hair, darker than his own. It was curly and formed an afro. He was wearing a light grey hoodie and was currently looking down at his phone.

His eyes were beautiful dark brown and his-. Robyn’s thoughts were cut off by a bag landing on the table next to him. He looks up and it was the girl from the hallway. “We meet again.” She says a smile plastered on her face. Honestly, there were still lots of other places to sit- she chose to sit here.

The girl sat down next to Robyn and started to grab the things she’d need for biology class. “You know don’t think I didn’t see you looking at that guy like you have hanahaki for him.” She put her bag onto the floor and turns to look at Robyn. “You don’t though. do you?”

Robyn, who hasn’t said anything yet shakes his head no. “Knew it, bet you haven’t even talked to him yet.” The girl said and chuckled. “I haven’t-” Robyn admitted, biting the inside of his cheek. 

The girl patted Robyn’s back. “Don’t worry about it, pal. My sister used to be like you once, now she’s brave though.” All Robyn did be shift a little, this was oddly awkward. “Sister?” He ended up asking, just to break the silence.

The girl hummed. “Yup, my little sister, Hannah. She’s smart so she skipped a grade, just like Julie over there.” The girl signed to the colourful kid on the opposite side of the classroom. “Hannah is in this class too. She is late though, which isn’t very usual for her.”

The girl explained, Robyn still just kind of sat there, he wasn’t necessarily interested in this story, he honestly didn’t care too much. The girl continued to talk but now Ro was just plain ignoring her.

His thoughts trailed off, to a different place. A slight blush was spreading across his face as his mind landed on the dark haired guy again. He imagined his voice, his eyes- those green eyes- what he’d look like without- “Webb!”

He quickly looked up to notice his teacher staring down at him. “This is your first hour- you should pay attention.” She said as she continued to ramble off as to what the class would be discussing this year.

The girl next to him had a hard time containing her laughter. Robyn decided to ignore her and looked around the class, apparently, he really didn’t pay attention, because by now the class was full of students.

Being the odd person he is he started to scan the class, looking for someone who sorts of looked like the girl next to him. ‘I still don’t know her name’ Robyn though, but that wasn’t important. 

The girl noticed this and then pointed in front of them, where two people sat. Robyn was only able to see the back of their heads. The one on the left has brown-ish curly hair tied into a messy ponytail. The other had shoulder long wavy, dark and almost black, brown hair.

“The one on the right” The girl whispered. “That’s Hannah, no idea who the other one is though. I guess she just sat down next to some random person.” The girl figured, but then realised something and chuckled. “Huh, just like me. Here I am sitting next to you without even knowing your name! Mine’s Sarah!” 

“Miss Saunters I request for you to be silent. Some of your fellow students are actually interested in what I am telling the class and now, because of you, they weren’t able to hear what I said.” Sarah rolled with her eyes. “Yeah, sure.” 

The teacher ignored this behaviour and continued with her lesson. “My name’s Robyn,” Robyn whispered. “Like the bird?” Sarah asked and the other nodded. “Like the superhero sidekick?” She asked again and Robyn internally groaned. ‘Sidekick’ was something he was called about a hundred times back in middle school.

“Don’t say that.” He muttered, now rather annoyed. “But yes, but my name is written with a ‘y’.” He pushed his notebook over to Sarah for her to read. It said  
“2013 - 2014  
Biology  
Robyn Webb”

Sarah snorted. “Hah, who named you that?” She asked, and Robyn raised an eyebrow. “Who do you think named me?” Sarah grinned and already saw her chance for a joke. “Batman?” 

And Robyn had to admit that this was funny, this didn’t stop him from hating Sarah for it just a little bit more. “Jesus Christ.-” He muttered as he rested his head in his right hand. Sarah stared at him, for a moment with pity, however his doesn’t last for long.

“Jezus named you?” She asked innocently, a smile on her face. Robyn didn’t find this quite as funny, he let out a deep sigh. “Yes. Jezus named to be, and he decided to be a dick and put a ‘y’ in my name.” He said sarcastically. He really didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

The teacher suddenly slammed a book on her desk. “Miss Saunters and sir Webb please go to the principal's office right now you two obviously don’t know how to behave. Perhaps that will help you two rethink your priorities.”

Some people in the class snickered, including Hannah and the guy Robyn’s been looking at. ‘Hah, you’re such an idiot’ the little voice in his head says, and Robyn audibly groans. Still, he gets up and quickly stuffs his books in his bag, Sarah does the same.

The two quickly leave the classroom, clearly extremely annoyed. The door slammed shut behind the two and immediately Robyn started firing words out of his mouth like bullets. “What the hell!?” He asked and Sarah turned her head to look up at Robyn.

“What?” She asked, “You do realise this is both of our faults, right?” Robyn didn’t really know what to answer, he sighs. “I know.”

The two make their way to the principal’s office, where they get scolded for their bad behaviour. However since no teacher wanted to stay after school on the first day, they were allowed to skip detention if they would clean the cafeteria during lunch

They agreed on doing so. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MONDAY 05/ 08/ 2013 1 pm

Sarah and Robyn leave their English class together to make their way to the cafeteria. They were not sure whether they were glad they didn’t have to go through the pain of picking a place to sit, or if they should be sad for not being able to eat anything during lunch.

When walking into the cafeteria the two were greeted by a lunch lady that someone would see in a high school movie. “Robyn and Sarah I am assuming?” Sarah nodded,”Yup!” Robyn decided to just nod along instead of questioning how the actual fuck this person could already recognize these two just by their faces.

In the blink of an eye, the two had a broom, a bucket of water and a mop in their hands. With Robyn getting the mop and Sarah the other cleaning item. “We look ridiculous,” Robyn noted, inspecting the mop in his hands. Not that he never cleaned before- it’s one of his jobs at home. Just not with a mop, which was weird, for most people anyway.

“Don’t be sissy about being a sissy and get to cleaning already,” Sarah said, already starting to broom up, well, nothing. Because the room was still clean during summer vacation. “Stop that,” Robyn asked in a begging tone while he experimentally dipped the mop into the bucket with water and soap.

Sarah looked up at him, leaning on her broom a little. “Stop what?” She asked curiously, and Robyn sighed and shook his head in reply. “Insulting me.” “I wasn’t insulting you.” Before Robyn could speak up, Sarah continued.

“A sissy is a guy who acts like a girl, and you were whining like a little girl so I called you that. Besides, you’re not a necessarily the definition of manly.” She explained with a chuckle. 

“Excuse me!?” Robyn asked, putting his right hand to lean on his right hip, still holding the mop with the other hand. Sarah laughed. “What about me is feminine!?” Sarah just gestured vaguely towards the other. 

Robyn groaned and decided to ignore Sarah from now on. He grabbed the mop, (with two hands this time) and started mopping the floor wherever he thought he saw some dreck. 

“You know I can’t help but agree with you.” Said a third voice, one that Robyn did not recognise. He turned around to see a girl, a whole six inches shorter than him (he’s tall). She had shoulder long, almost black wavy hair, and big curious eyes. “Hannah,” Robyn said and paused for a second. “Hannah Saunters?”

The girl nodded and chuckled a little. “Yup, the one and only!” “Bad last name.” Robyn realised bluntly, and the two sisters shrugged. “Your name also isn’t the best-” Sarah shot back, and Robyn scoffed. 

The two continued to clean and chat with each other. Honestly, the rest of the lunchtime did not include quite as much cleaning as the staff of the school or they have hoped for, but who cared? They did their job and that was enough. 

Robyn found himself enjoying the company of the two sisters, talking to them was like a puzzle. Sometimes they’d reply with kindness and actual intelligence, other times it just joked arguments ( mostly from Sarah). It was near impossible to figure out how they would react to what sentence.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MONDAY 05/ 08/ 2013 3:25 pm

Hannah and Sarah have not seen Robyn for the rest of the day, they would’ve loved to hang out some more after school would be over, but apparently, he rushed home (as they have heard from Ave, who was the last to see him).

The two decided to walk home together, they didn’t live very far from school, it was a twenty-minute walk. Since no buses drove from the school to any place near their house it was the cheapest and fastest option. 

It was silent, and the two didn’t talk much; Hannah was looking at the streets, houses, and trees they passed. Sarah was doing something on her phone. “He’s nice.” Hannah finally says to break the silence.

“Who? Robyn? He doesn’t swing that way ya-” “What? No!” They both stare at each other for a moment, with both confidence and a little bit of anger. “I mean John.” Hannah silently admits. The two have been sitting next to each other almost the entire day and appeared to really get along. 

“You mean that guy with the curly hair?” Sarah asks, she couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Yeah, we have talked a lot. His friends are really nice too! He has introduced me to them during music class. Alex, Laf, and Herc.” She explains.

Sarah frowns a little and looks down. “You shouldn’t tell dad.” She says, sounding a bit down. She didn’t like her sister having to hide her friends but it was the smarter choice. Hannah sighed, nodding a little. “I know.”

The rest of the day luckily ended uneventfully.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRIDAY 31/ 10/ 2014 7:45 pm

The group has known each other for a little over a year now, and they have grown extremely fond of each other. Even though the revolutionary squad (as some people called them for some reason) were more ‘friends of friends’ for Robyn, they still got along.

Now they’re in sophomore year. This night was a Halloween party planned at school, however, the group of friends wasn’t sure if they wanted to go. They first thought of maybe throwing a ‘small’ party of their own somewhere else. However, since parents are dictators this plan died before it was born.

-

Robyn was laying on his couch, staring up at the ceiling. He really wasn’t too interested in going in costume this year, however his younger sister, Anne, really wanted him to do so. So, what did the two, and their mother do? 

Little red riding hood. Anne was wearing the most adorable red cape and some oldish clothing. She carried a basket with her, that she was going to fill with candy when she would go trick or treating. It was pretty smart, actually.

Their mother, Mayme, went as red riding hood's grandmother. She was wearing a white wig and added some makeup to add some more lines to her face.

And Robyyn, of course (against his will), dressed up as the wolf. Complete with ears and tail. Besides that just normal grey clothing though. He really wanted to buy these sharp teeth that you can stick onto your own, but those were too expensive to add. (Which made no sense because the tail was incredibly expensive too, but Robyn was not about to question his mother’s reasoning. )

Suddenly, he heard someone knock on the door. ‘That must be them.’ he thought. However, since Anne is a ball of energy she managed to get to the door before him. She basically threw the door open, behind it were Hannah, Sarah and the rest of the squad. 

Sarah was a witch, made obvious with her Slytherin outfit. Hannah and John had a couples costume; with John being a vampire, and Hannah having ‘fresh bitemarks’ drawn on her neck. Alex and Laf have refused to dress up, Alex out of laziness, Laf out of lack of inspiration. 

Then you have Herc; the guy who plans to make clothing for a living. He chose to dress up as Gandalf, with a self-sewn cape and hat of course. It looked amazing. 

Hannah gasped when she saw Anne. “You. Look. Adorable.” She said. For some reason Anne expects this, she couldn’t help but groan though. Of course, she looked adorable! That’s the trick to get more candy! “Ro it’s your fr-” but Robyn already stood behind her. “I know.” 

He stepped outside, and bid his sister and mother goodbye. As soon as the door closed Robyn suddenly felt all eyes on him, inspecting his costume. “For a ‘mean wolf’ you look très adorable, mon ami,” Laf noted, some of the other nodded or hummed in agreement.

“Let’s get going already!” Herc exclaimed. “I want everyone to see my costume already!” 

“Alright alright, someone is going to join Robyn on his motorbike though, I am NOT driving with six people in my car again, it’s a hell to fit four people on the backseat, I don’t want my license taken away.” 

Sarah and Hannah claimed a place in the car immediately, Sarah was not about to take off the huge thing that is her hat, and Hannah was not wearing that much seen as her vampire dress was, well, a dress.

Herc’s cape reached the floor, so would probably just get stuck in something. Eventually, Alex offered to go, he was the smallest and didn’t have an excuse not to. “Is it that much of a punishment to spend a whole five minutes on the back of my motorbike?” Robyn asked, already handing Alex his second helmet.

“No, it’s just cold.” Robyn shrugged.

The group made their way to the bottom of the apartment complex and hopped into the car. They drove away, with Robyn driving behind the car. It was silent, mostly because Robyn needed to concentrate on the road. Driving in the dark was no easy task.

“They’re cute together,” Alex noted out of nowhere, a hint of sadness in his voice. “Who?” Robyn asked, it sounded harsher than he wanted to, he was sort of pulled out of his thoughts, and he really hated it when people did that.

“John and Hannah.” Robyn hummed in agreement, listening to Alex continues thoughtfully. “For some time I thought I might get Hanahaki for him,” Alex admitted. “But I never showed any symptoms so I guess we’re just closed friends.”

It was silent again, a bit of an odd silence. Alex has always been the one Robyn knew best from the guys in the friend group, still, they didn’t talk that much. “You know it’s official now.” That caught Robyn’s attention, and he almost steered the motorbike away from the road. “What’s official?”

“John and Hannah, they’ve been dating but now it’s official. They want to announce it tonight to the rest of us and their friends.” Robyn thought about this for a moment, he coughed a little. Odd, he isn’t sick. “Oh? How do you know this?” 

“John and I are close, and he is not great at keeping a secret.” Alex explained and chuckled a little. “heh, neither am I.”

-

The group arrives at school, the walls were greatly decorated from the outside, once they step inside they notice the inside is even fuller of decoration. Near the entrance, they find an extremely pained looking boy. 

He has introduced himself as ‘James Madison’ sometime earlier. He is in the student council and has helped organise this party. However, he was stuck here, selling tickets for the party.

“Five dollars a person.” “We already reserved tickets,” Hannah says, and James nods, checking his list. “Saunters sisters, revolutionaries and Webb, right?” The group nods, and as their names are being checked off from the list they walk past the small table.

They make their way to the gym hall where the party was taking place. Loud music was blaring through the speakers and the room was already packed with students having a good time. The group scattered quicker than someone could say ‘shizzlepops’ and suddenly only Alex, Laf, and Robyn were left at the entrance.

“So,” Robyn said, a little perplexed by how quickly everyone found a place to fit in. “Oui. So.” Laf replied, also not quite sure what to do.

“You there! Immigrant boy!” The three turned their heads to face Ave; she wasn’t in costume, but her cocktail dress was as brightly and randomly coloured as her hair which, in her opinion counted as a costume. 

Ave grabbed Alex’s hand and pulled him to her. “I made a bet and if I won’t dance with someone who is shorter than me I could lose three Copic markers. Three.” That was all the explanation Alex got before being pulled away to the dance floor.

 

“What-” “Art kids take their art supply bets serious.” “Oh.” Then it was silent again, Laf and Robyn decided to just lean against a wall and look at the others having fun, instead of having fun themselves.

Robyn sighed deeply but then suddenly choked on something. He started coughing, a little, then a little more. Laf patted his back and soon he was alright again. “What was that?” The Frenchman asked, and Robyn simply shrugged. “Choked on some confetti or something.”

“You need some distraction mon ami. You need someone to dance with.” Laf stated matter of factly, and Robyn looked at him with a confused expression. “With who?” Lafayette thought for a second and then pointed at someone in the crowd. “Him.”

Robyn followed Laf’s finger and then saw who he was pointing at; Thomas Jefferson. “He grew up in France and has only gone to school here for a little more than a year now. I believe he’s in class 11B?” Robyn stared at Thomas for a while, he had a minor crush on him in freshman year. It honestly wasn’t anything but physical attraction though.

“I don’t know.” Robyn admitted, he tended to get shy around people he didn’t know, especially if ‘people’ is Thomas Jefferson and extremely attractive Thomas Jefferson who also appeared to be dressed up as a wolf. 

“Just say something in French, he’ll appreciate it. Besides, think he will find you tres adorable like I said before.” Robyn sighed and slowly nodded. “What should I say?”

“Tu as l’air séduisant ce soir. Then ask him to dance.” Robyn nodded and repeated the sentence. “Tu as l’air séduisant ce soir?” Lafayette chuckled and nodded. “Exactly” Robyn smiled with new found motivation. “What does it mean?” 

“Roughly? Nice to see you.” Lafayette said, lying about the true translation. Robyn seemed to buy it though, he waved his friend goodbye and made his way to Thomas. He felt oddly confident for some reason. 

He took a deep breath and tapped Thomas on his shoulder, he was slightly taller than Robyn and Laf, which was sort of amazing to Robyn since he didn’t know many people that were taller than him. 

Thomas turned around and looked down at the other boy, he smiled. “Oh, you’re probably looking for Laf I know we look alike he-” “No! I- I mean, no I wasn’t looking for Laf.” Something about Thomas’ presence was was intimidating, it made Robyn stutter.

“Okay then.” The taller one chuckled a little. “Then what can I do for you, pup?” He asked as he noticed Robyn’s costume. He decided to ignore this. “I just came here to say; tu as l’air séduisant ce soir. And to ask if you would like to dance.” 

Thomas grinned at that, and swiftly placed his right hand around Robyn’s waist and pulled him into the mass of dancing people. He pulled their bodies close together. “You’re cute, pup. But I highly doubt you know what you said to me. Laf gave you that sentence, didn’t he?”

Robyn wished he could just disappear, knowing Laf he could’ve said pretty much anything. What if he- oh god no-. A dark blush appeared on Robyn’s face. “Calm down pup, you merely complimented me on how handsome and charming I look. I believe the correct translation is ‘allouring’?” Robyn sighed and shook his head a little. “I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes now glued to the floor, except not the floor, because no floor was visible between him and the other.

They were close, really close. Robyn’s thoughts started to race a little. “There is nothing to apologise for, unless, of course, if you don’t think I’m alluring,” Thomas said with a quick wink, Robyn saw this. “No! I mean- yes. You’re alluring. Very, very alluring.”

They both chuckle a little, and then it was silent. Except for the music in the background, of course. The two continued to dance, even as the music started to slow down. Robyn found himself leaning against Thomas’ chest, and he did not notice this until Thomas asked him to “Maybe ditch the party and come over to my place?” 

Robyn hummed. letting Thomas know he heard him, he would move away but Thomas was oddly comfy. He thought. Where was this going? ‘You damn well know where this is going. He wants to fuck you.’ says the little voice in his head. And he wants to ignore it, but the voice was right.

He sighs and looks up at Thomas. He has been feeling extremely shitty lately and it would be a good chance to get his mind off of things. Eh, what the hell. 

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUNDAY 07/ 11/ 2014  
‘Dear diary,

what the actual fuck am I doing? I guess I just need to write some shit down for once to empty my head. That way I have room for more thoughts or whatever.’ 

Robyn aggressively scribbled down some words, the school counsellor requested for him to keep a diary. His cough got worse and even though he himself won't admit it, some people think it might be hanahaki. Anyway, this should help.

‘My mind keeps on going back to the party one Friday ago. Do I have hanahaki for Thomas? I am pretty sure what we have for each other is just physical. Or mostly at least.

And as good as the sex maybe was, it did NOT help me get my mind off of things. Which sucks.’

Robyn looks at the page, then realises that his mother or the school counsellor might read this and then quickly draws scribbles over the last few sentences. No one needs to know about that.

-

That evening during dinner Mayme seemed a little… squirmy. Robyn probably would’ve noticed under other circumstances, however, he was kind of stuck playing with his fork, his thoughts in the middle of nowhere.

“Mom, are you alright?” Anne asked slightly worried. Mayme put down her dining utensils and sighs. She looks up at her children with a worried face. “It’s just that I have a small announcement to -” she got interrupted by Robyn coughing a little.

“Are you alright?” A cough. “-yeah-” cough- “Just, continue with your announcement” -cough cough-.

“Okay then… Anyway- because, as you all know, we have some financial issues.” Mayme explained over Robyn,s by now almost aggressive coughing. “Ro are you sure you’re-” “I. Said. Yes.”

Mayme sighed and nodded. “Anyway, rent in this area has gone up, and we don’t earn lots of money. So, we are going to move out. Out of town. Tomorrow.”

Anne choked on her food. “What?”

Robyn, who by now had some tears rolling down his face from the coughing, suddenly coughs up a single flower petal that slowly lands on the table in front of him. He looks down at it, and the little voice in his head spoke up.

‘Well, shit.’

-

And that is how it started.


	2. Flying Out of the Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a look into what life is like for the Webb's a couple of years later. We see what else has happened to Robyn, how his hanahaki has developed, and finally, what plan Anne and he have come up with to earn more money, to get financial stability.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me! Finally being productive! :D
> 
> Okay- first off, I am so sorry that this took so long to complete! I have been so busy with other things- finishing several movies and shows. (I am now a huge Big Bang Theory, Stranger Things, American Horror Story, Camp Camp, Disenchanted and Marvel fan,)
> 
> Second off, I am very sorry for having so many spelling errors in the previous chapter, I will make sure to improve my writing and not just blindly approve everything that Grammarly suggests.
> 
> I made a huge amount of mistakes story-wise too and was generally inconsistent. This chapter should be better though! Critique is always welcome though!

[^^^PLEASE READ THE NOTES BEFORE READING THE CHAPTER ^^^]  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THURSDAY 16/ 02/ 2017 NO TIME NOTED

‘So, hello, diary.’

I sigh and scribble the words away. ‘This is stupid’ I think to myself, and the little voice in my head agrees. I have not written in my diary for something that feels like ages by now. It takes too long, and whenever I try starting I end up trailing off and start writing some story again. 

I grab the small book that is my diary and look at it, it consists of leather, and one green gemstone on the outside. It has lots of little details. That never stopped me from hating the darn thing. ‘Then why keep it?’ asks the little voice in my head. I internally groan. This voice, it’s still there. It’s still in my head, doing nothing but being annoying.

It sometimes feels as if it’s dancing with my mind to the beat that my hanahaki is creating on the dancefloor of being on the brink of financial ruin. Yup. That’s what it feels like. The voice is aware that I hate it, it does not care though. I have yet to give it a name, something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. I would write down some options and just pick the best one, if it wasn’t for my lack of creativity lately.

Beside that, the voice has become a so much bigger part of my life, it talks more often and often influences what I do and say. I let it dictate me for some reason. Once I even yelled at it, out loud. Let’s just say people looked at me as if I just had a conversation with myself. I sigh thinking about it. 

With new found anger I throw the darn diary across the room. It hits the wall and falls to the floor without much more than a ‘thump’ sound. “Hey!” 

Anne. Of course. I now share a room with my little sister. It’s extremely small and only has enough room for one double bed, a desk and a closet. None of the interior is fancy, and the walls are plain white. But it’s home.

“I swear to fucking God if you are going to start talking to yourself too I am going to murder you!” Anne, she has taken a turn for the worse. Mostly due to puberty and stress. The poor thing is now in the middle of middle school and cleans houses in her spare time for money to pay rent and for food. 

“Keep your weird, depressing, psycho, hanahaki bullshit out of my room!” “It’s my room too ya know!?” We both just do some weird aggressive groan towards each other and continue with what we were doing. Which for Anne is doing her homework at her desk, and for me doing nothing on the bed.

I look up at the ceiling, fiddling with the blanket. I can hear Anne aggressively typing on her calculator, it’s annoying but I know better than to point it out. 

Then I feel one again, a petal. They have become a regular thing by now. In the beginning, I would only ever get one every two months or so, those gradually became more and more. They also got bigger. Now I usually get three to four, sometimes five a day. 

I researched it, and apparently, I am currently right in the middle of the disease. In a month my hanahaki can be classified as ‘dangerous, bothersome, and a high chance of leaving permanent trauma to the lungs’. Just thinking about a plant, growing inside my body makes me - cough. I coughed. 

The petal floats a few inches into the air and the lands on my nose. I grab it and sit up. My petals are orange and purple tiger lilies. I would encourage anyone to google them, they’re beautiful. I am lucky with my flower type. Lilies have roots that aren’t very harmful. They are light, and bush like. Above all they’re thin, and delicate. Which is good because that means it doesn’t hurt a lot.

I can hear Anne sigh. “Another petal?” She asks, and all I do is hum. I know that Anne is smart, she can figure this out on her own. I walk over to her, and grab a jar that’s standing on the corner of the table we called ‘desk’.

I pick the jar up and open it. It’s full of colourful petals. See, lilies have soft roots, but they bloom fucking huge. I once had a petal as big as my index finger. They are hard to hide. Beside that, there never is a good excuse to have a tiger lily with you. A rose petal could easily be explained.

I shake my head quickly. ‘No.’ I think. ‘I don’t wish for anyone to have rose hanahaki.’ I mean, just imagine the thorns, cutting open your lungs- You’d be dead within days. And those last few days would be painful as Hell.

I sit back down on the bed, jar in one hand, petal in the other. I somehow decided that I wanted to keep them. I don’t really remember why. I can’t have them lying around everywhere, I guess. It’s also sort of fun to collect them. The jar, as bad as it’s origin may be, sort of makes me happy with all the colours.

Of course, there is no way I could collect all of them, then I would’ve needed several jars by now. When I am out with friends, or in school, I just throw them away. It’s too much of a hassle to take them with me and it’s not worth it. Not really.

“I thought you were getting better?” Anne asks suddenly, she puts she pen down and shifts in her seat to face me. Yes. Getting better. After moving out of town everyone thought I’d just get better, because I would finally leave the person I was sick for. But hanahaki does not work like that. 

Hanahaki is so much more complicated than that. Of course, if my feelings for this person would just disappear, I guess you could call it ‘healed.’. I don’t know if I want that though. 

See, for an extremely long time, I had no idea who the hell I even had hanahaki for. Thomas always was my best guess. But we don’t have any emotional connection.

Then I continued to think. I first thought of Sarah, she was the first who I came close to. But then I remembered how platonic our relationship is. To the point where we kissed while drunk to prove how good friends we were. I chuckle thinking about it.  
\---

SATURDAY 10/ 05/ 2014 SOMEWHERE AT NIGHT

The group decided to be smart and go to a party. Hell to the yes. School has not been very kind with homework and lots of tests and projects lately, and what better way to relieve stress than going to a party?

Everyone besides Herc and John decided to come, ‘at least we actually do our school work.’ was their argument. Knowing the rest of the squad, you can already guess that they completely ignored their advice and went anyway. 

The party was held in some guy’s house, the group didn’t really know him. Still, ‘everyone’ was invited so they were good to go! When arriving at the house, they noticed this was not a house. It. Was. A. Mansion. Robyn parked his motorbike somewhere on the other side of the road and several feet away from the house. He did not want anyone trying funny stuff with it.

When back at the mansion, the door was already open and everyone entered, Ro quickly rushed in behind them. The door closed behind him, and suddenly he was in a different world. It felt as if he was dreaming.

The air was thick, and it was sort of hard to breathe but that felt sort of amazing. There were so many people there! The place was packed! People were smoking, and drinking and dancing. Loud music was blaring from the stereo, and everyone was just having an overall good time. It. Was. Amazing.

Something Robyn couldn’t help but absolutely love was the music choice, his favourite band; Set It Off. It appeared to be their new album. At the time it was he newest stuff they got! It must’ve been expensive to get this CD (Yes CD because it’s 2014 mmk)

“So, what’re we gonna do first!?” Hannah asked, her voice full of excitement. “Shots!” Robyn replied, and the two look at each other for a moment. They share this look, this look that said ‘hell yes we are going to completely fuck up tonight and it’s going to be SO much fun’. With manic expressions they pull their friends to the table with alcohol.

“Is this really the best idea, so early on?” Alex asks as he was pulled around like a child’s stuffed animal, he was small, and light. Robyn could’ve probably carried him if he wanted to. “I don’t mind, things are much more fun when slightly tipsy or plain drunk.” Sarah replied and shrugged. 

 

Upon arriving at the table Hannah and Robyn simultaneously grab a small shot glass and down it in one go. With force they put them back down on the table, making a loud sound. “Your turn.” They said at the same time, with Robyn handing another glass to Alex, and Hannah handing one to her sister. 

Sarah downed the shot in an instant, but Alex passed his glass on to Laf. “I will be the sober babysitter tonight. Beside, someone needs to drive.” He explained lamely and shrugged. After Laf also drank the shot, Robyn realised he also needed to drive tonight. Because not a single other person was going to touch his motorbike. However that was a problem for future Robyn, because right now Robyn didn’t care.

“And what do we do now?” “Now? We dance.”

-

The rest of the night was nothing more than a blur, all Robyn could remember was lots of music, and did he drink more alcohol? Probably. He has no idea. How did his motorbike end and up back home? He has no idea.

All he remembers from this one night is one small moment, truth or dare, the dumbest, most classic game of all time. And Sarah was dared to kiss anyone who was also partaking in the game. Sarah chose Robyn of all people, because. “We are so good friends. Neither one of us is going to feel anything!” 

And Sarah was right, the kiss was nothing. Maybe it was because they were both drunk off their minds, or maybe Sarah was right. 

\---

Sarah was like a second sister at this point.

So no, not her. It also wasn’t any of the revolutionaries. Easy out of the following reasons; Alex and Herc don’t really look attractive to me, and we also don’t have an emotional connection. At least not a close one.

Then John and Laf, they certainly look the part. However, Laf reminds me of Thomas and that makes me a little uncomfortable. Not around him, rather being alone with him, or even thinking about being in a relationship. And John and I never really were that close, I just hung out with him because he was around Hannah a lot.  
And then we have Hannah. She is my best current guess. She and I are close, very close even. Not quite like Sarah and I are though, it’s a little weird. And I know for a fact that she and John are a thing. Which is what makes her an even better contestant for being the cause of my hanahaki. I know for sure that it’s one-sided love, Hannah already loves someone.

I find myself looking at the jar, repeating more and more memories. I think about the fun times I’ve had, could it be? Was it Hannah? I am usually good at solving puzzles, why not this one? ‘Hah, pathetic, you’re going to die and don’t even know why.’ says the voice in my head.

I want to cry and scream but I don’t. because this voice needs to learn that it can’t control me like that. I put the new petal in the jar, get up and put the jar back on the desk. Anne looks up at me for a moment. We share a look, a tired one, showing that we know that the other is feeling like absolute garbage. We nod to each other and I leave our room, Anne needs to concentrate.

Besides, it’s time to start preparing dinner anyway.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THURSDAY 16/ 02/ 2017 DINNER

I eat the stew my mother and I have prepared, it’s something we have eaten a lot lately. It’s mostly just scraps we just so happened to have. I poke the food mindlessly, it’s too hot to eat and we are waiting for Anne. “Sis?” I ask, this is a small apartment and I know for a fact that she heard me. 

“Give me a minute!” I want to get up to see what’s wrong, however, Mayme signs for me to stay put. I nod and sigh. I like to think that I am always there as a support. It’s hard to deal with Anne isolating herself so much, we used to be so much closer. 

-

A few minutes pass, I am munching on a piece of potato while looking into pretty much nowhere, my mind was in the middle of some thoughts. Suddenly I hear the door open, and like a scared deer that heard something threatening I look up to see Anne entering the room. She looked upset, her eyes were a little puffy and her cheeks were slightly stained with tears. 

I look at her as she sits down, looking at the empty bowl in front of her. “Anne, what’s-” “Don’t” she says lamely and puts some stew into her bowl. She is staring so intensely, as if she was concentration on something that was extremely important. I shift in my seat, Anne’s negativity spreads around the room easily. My mother is immune. I am not, and feel oddly depressed as well. 

“So. Robyn, how was your day?” I look up at my mother with an ‘are we really doing this right now?’ expression, she simply shrugs and and repeats herself. I shrug too and look away. “Nothing too exciting, honestly. Just like every day.” I’m not lying though, I can hardly remember what happened last week, all days are the same and they started to blur.

The table falls into silence again save for the occasional dining utensils making a soft sound against the bowls. The air felt tense, Anne still seemed upset. I look at my mother with pleading eyes. She likes to take things slow and have patience with just about everything in her life, and this annoys me. Anne is feeling sad now. And I want to help now.

“Anne, what’s wrong?” I ask finally, sick of playing the waiting game. She turns her head to look up at me. “You’ll die soon.” She says, her voice breaking a little. In any other situation, I would have hugged and shushed her and I would’ve told her that this is all not true and that things would get better.

But that’s the point. I won’t get better. I just sigh and continue eating.

-

After dinner I tell Anne and my mother to go rest, I offer to sleep on the couch today so Mayme could have my spot in the bed (something I have offered countless times before). To my relief, she agreed on trading places. 

I start to clean up the table, bring the plates into the kitchen and wash them. This sort of started to become life now. I like to try and put all of the weight of this… ‘situation’ onto my own shoulders, but I can’t and I need to admit it. Mayme was already in her late 30’ies when she had me, which means she’s going to be 60 years old soon.

She is too old for working as much as she is right now, and the stress is colouring her hair greyer than it should be. And then there’s my sister, God- that poor thing. She is a young fifteen years old, yet she has the working and social skills of any adult. She is so mature for her age, and the worst part is how cool she acts about it.

She somehow never really admits that she feels tired or stressed, but it’s so clear to see. I should really stop thinking about this.

It’s not like we are going to stay poor forever, we are slowly working our way into a more balanced life, it just takes some time. Soon, as in, within two years, we are going to be able to live normally though. Now, this is quite the hole the three of us have dug ourselves, someone might wonder how this happened. Well, that’s all on my father.

The man loved to drink, he would always invite his ‘friends’ to our old apartment without even leaving notice. One day he and his ‘friends’ started to get into gambling, and then everything just went downhill. He wasted almost all our money. However luckily for us he eventually just kind of left and never returned. Three days later they found his body in an alley, the police assumed drug overdose. We were glad.

The reason Mayme never divorced him was due to the fact, that at the time he was the main source of income for the family. Sure, if I and the other two really wanted, or had to, like right now, work very hard, we would’ve easily been able to provide for ourselves. Now that it has come to that… I don’t know how I feel about it.

I put the last plate away, and close the cupboard. After giving the entire thing one last glance I make my way to the pull-out couch. I drop onto it and immediately roll myself into a cocoon of warmth, hugging the blanket and myself tightly. 

I think about everything, about how life has changed along with that of my family. How bad everyone is. Maybe... Maybe it’s because we are stuck in this weird corner of the city. The north has seemed promising lately-...

I fall asleep without giving anything any more thought. 

\-----

FRIDAY 17/ 02/ 2017 BREAKFAST

“... and that’s why I should move,” I conclude, looking from my sister, to my mother, excitedly. Moving further not would not only get me a cheaper apartment, but also a very good job at a rather fancy cafe that is currently hiring. I then could tutor kids on English on the side, and when I have enough money, move back. 

My mother seemed excited, willing to try the new idea. Anne though, she just glares at me with his death stare. “I don’t want you leaving.” She states simply, poking her food in a rather aggressive way. “Anne-” I say, trying to put a hand on her shoulder, but she flinches away. “I will be able to earn so much more money.” Anne gets up, starting to stack the plates and other things before her. “You’re not the only one finding those application for that cafe. However /I/ am the only one who also researched other things such as amount of jobless millennials in that area- how quickly spaces fill out- and I also looked for all the available apartments.” She takes a deep breath. “And if you want to do this you’ll have to be out of here by tomorrow.” With that she leaves, taking the plates with her. 

Mayme and I sit there in silence, thinking. “You know I’d be fine with moving out so soon.” I say plainly, and my mother nods. “I know. That doesn’t mean you have to though.” She says, a clear hint of sadness in her voice. I shake my head, getting up and also grabbing some other things left one the table. “I could earn enough money to afford surgery.” Robyn mutters, from the kitchen, and this intrigued Anne. “Wait- so- does that mean that-?” Roby nods curtly, though clearly extremely unamused. Anne hugs her older brother. “That’s incredible news!” Anne’s eyes were glowing with joy, something that does not really happen too often. 

The night ended with the two siblings planning Robyn moving. 

\---

Anne’s POV

I lie down in bed. Finally. Robyn and I have been working, sorting out papers, everything we were able to do in this short night. He has been oddly silent as if he wasn’t sure, or he did not want this-. It just all felt a little weird. 

I brush it off.

 

\----

Third person. POV

The morning was more than stressful, Robyn has packed his bags with all his clothing -which, unsurprisingly he managed to stuff into one bag-, he has taken small bits of the food from home, and the whatever money he would need before his first pay day would arrive. (Assuming he would actually get the job).

It’s a gamble, a huge gamble. This could completely ruin everything. (But it won’t because this story has 11 more chapters where Robyn and Hannah interact) 

Later, Robyn said his goodbyes to both his mother and sister, before leaving the house with nothing but an oversized backpack. He makes his way to the nearest bus station, his eyes scanning the area calmly. It is everything but one of those normal areas in New York. No, instead it just looks like one of those streets someone would get mugged, murdered, or even raped in. It was no nice area to live, but cheap. And heck, in a little less than two years the Webb’s can move away.

Soon the bus arrives, and Robyn steps in, paying for a ticket and sitting down as far away from any other person as possible, keeping his bag close. On the bus in this area, is two types of people. People who live here, and people who are passing through. And it’s painfully obvious who is which. 

Right now mostly braggarts though. ‘Braggart’ is a term Robyn likes to use in his head for people from the other areas of the city. The ones who look down at districts like his with disgust and pity. Robyn scoffs, shaking his head a little. 

The bus stops, and a strange man steps into the bus. He is tall, -not as tall as Robyn-, and has hair as white as milk. He was dressed oddly, even for a braggart; though his pants and shirt appeared rather normal -to Robyn at least-. however his jacket is huge’ light brown leather on the outside, and a lot of -probably not fake- fur coat on the inside. Big and round sunglasses rest on his nose, and his piercing blue eyes were barely hidden by it. The stranger glances at Robyn, and sits down right next to him. Robyn frowns, there being so many other places to sit, why here? 

The two don’t interact for the rest of the ride until eventually, Robyn notices his stop is next. He waits, perhaps this stranger also has to get off at that stop? Well- Robyn can’t just awkwardly move over him- and should he really open his mouth and say something? He waits a little longer until he really has to say something or miss his stop. 

“Hey uh-. I have to get out next stop and uhh-.” He doesn’t finish his sentence, decides to just let it be like this. The stranger looks up from some magazine he has been reading, and smirks again, or is it just a normal smile? Hard to tell. The stranger pets Robyn’s head, actually /pets/ him, and chuckles. “Don’t worry beau, it is mine too, I will make sure to get up soon enough~.” he hums, not bothering to say anything else. The bus stops, and the two leave, going their separate ways. 

Robyn felt odd, a shiver running down his spine from what just happened. Weird people in this district…

 

The walk to the apartment is not long and takes less than five minutes. He manages to check in without any sort of struggle, and quickly find a way to his apartment; 81. The numbers are stuck onto the wooden door with shiny aluminium with gold paint on it. 

Robyn opens the door, eyes widening at the apartment. It’s slightly bigger than his old one, and this one is all to himself too. Wait no- he hears something from an area that he assumed to be bathroom/ bedroom space. Hesitantly, he puts his bag down after closing the main door behind him. “Hello?” He calls out, making his way to one of the closed doors and opens it. It ‘s the bedroom. Consisting of one king-sized bed, and a tiny desk with a chair. In the bed however, is a guy, small. He has thin brown hair that goes just past his shoulder, and peach fuzz on his chin.. “Eyyy.” he says, pointing finger guns and Robyn. “I’m sorry, but who are you-?” the taller one asks, standing in the doorframe, shifting awkwardly. 

“Why- I am the great Alexander Hamilton” the stranger says sarcastically, chuckling a little. Robyn gasps, realising that this was the Alexander he went to school with. “I-it’s me! Robyn!” and Alex’s eyes widen in response. “Ro! you’ve changed so much over the years! You used to look kind of sickly but now-.” “Anyway- uhh- what are you doing on my bed?” Alex frowns deeply, cocking his head. “You can’t tell me that you rented this place-..” The short one says in disbelief, sitting up straighter. Robyn shrugs and nods, glancing away a little. Alex groans. 

“Okay- let me explain. I know the guy who owns this entire building.- You do too I think-. Anyway- he is a complete ass. And because of a certain… arrangement, I own this apartment. From time to time he likes to rent out the place- mostly to annoy me-,” Alex chuckles awkwardly, staring to fiddle with the blankets. “Do you not read the complete add before renting an apartment?” Flashbacks to the very stressful night yesterday appeared in Robyn’s head for a moment, and he shakes his head slowly. 

“Well then- I guess I am your new roommate then! Oh! I can cook tonight granted you tell me how your life has been since graduation~!” Alex chirps, hopping up from the bed. “I really don’t think my life is interesting, honestly.” Robyn mutters, but Alex has already pushed him aside, and now makes his way to the living room/kitchen. The area is one big room, connected to the hallway, and only separated by a kitchen counter. 

“It’s time for dinner anyway- I hope you like instant noodles.” The short man says, as he climbs onto the counter to reach an up high cupboard, from it he takes four packages of the instant food, jumping off the counter once they are put on it and the cupboard closed. “I guess.-” Robyn again just mutters, still feeling really odd about this entire thing. 

Alex goes to boil water, glancing over at Robyn every now and then. “Say- if any of this is too personal you got to tell me- but are you sick? I don’t want to get sick too and we will have to be sharing a bed-.” the water begins to boil, and Alex quickly takes care of it, pouring it into two of the instant food cups. “I’m not-. uhm-.” Robyn thinks, not wanting to pull Alex into this entire thing. “It’s nothing, I’m healthy-.” Robyn mumbles, and as if on cue coughs, though keeps the flower petals in his mouth. 

Alex raises an eyebrow as he grabs two forks and quickly mixes the contents of the two cups, scooting one over to his new roommate. “Whatever you say-” Robyn nods, and takes the cup with food, looking down at it. He was not about to eat the lily petals in his mouth. So, he just kind of awkwardly shifts, glancing about. 

“So, tell me- what have you been up to? College? Finally started out your writing career? Has Anne killed anyone yet? Have /you/ killed Anne? Found true love?” Alex asks as he climbs onto the kitchen counter and crosses his legs, eating from the cup like a raccoon would. “Uhh- no, no, maybe, no, no-.” Robyn mumbles, trying to somehow find a place to put the petals in his mouth, moving his tongue around to somehow… do something. His mind is pretty blank on ideas. 

Alex frowns, “Dude- you are clearly not alright.” He notes, eyes glued on the other. Robyn shakes his head. “I’m fine, just a little-.” However, Alex notices that Robyn is in fact not fine- when one of his petals manages to escape his mouth and land on the floor. The two fall into silence, both of them looking down awkwardly. 

“I’m sorry-.” “You didn’t know- so I mean-.” 

-

Later that night the two end up draped on the couch, scrolling through Alex’s suggested shows on Netflix, a luxury that Robyn could certainly get used to. Finally, they decide to watch Big Bang Theory until they both fall asleep in the living room. 

\-----

MONDAY 20/ 02/ 2017 

He did it. Robyn Webb got himself a job at a luxe and high class cafe; Zephyrus. The logo is put above the entrance in golden and lacy letters. The doors are made out of glass, wooden pillars standing between them. In Robyn’s bag is his uniform, folded up neatly. He could probably explode out of nervousness, knowing that he would be the only new barista. He enters the store, and hears a familiar voice. “Hello~! You’re the new one, right?” The female voice asks from somewhere in the back room. It was normal to assume Robyn was the new one, seen as only employees would enter the store half an hour before opening, or even have a key. 

“Uhh yeah-. Where-” “Second door to your right, that’s where you can get changed and leave your bags.” The voice says a metal clang could be heard from the back room, thought Robyn just quickly says “okay, thanks-.” and makes his way to said room. 

-

Robyn emerges from the employee room, fixing his uniform a little. “Okay- so- I thought I’d just help out in the kitchen for now, and then later I could-” “Robyn!” He looks up, suddenly frowning. Behind the counter was Hannah, bright smile on her face. “We have not seen each other in ages! We need to catch up!” 

And suddenly, Robyn feels like throwing up.

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyy- I am pretty happy with this chapter. It went pretty okay, and I think that it really manages to set the scene for the next couple of chapters!
> 
> I have now introduced all but one main characters, a really major one will be added next chapter~. As well as some background original characters. 
> 
> Oh! And! Fun fact; I wrote the first half of this chapter over a span of three weeks, the other half in a couple of hours between 1 and 7 am. 
> 
> I shall also add a question of the day;   
> "What is -in your opinion- the best country you ever travelled to/ where would you like to travel?"
> 
> I myself really loved going to Scotland, and would also like to live there somewhere in the future! And I would really love to travel to the USA, or New Sealand someday.
> 
> So- who was this blue-eyed stranger? Who owns the new building of Robyn's new apartment? Will Hannah find out about the hanahaki? What kind of plot twist will happen to involve someone probably dying? Find out in some other chapter, hopefully!


	3. Settling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a peek into how Robyn is settling in, and some more stuff happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhh I dislike this chapter. It's rushed, and I really didn't know how to write this. 
> 
> So yeah- it sucks. But I needed to get it out of the way so... Here ya go. 
> 
> (It's also very short in comparison to the others I know.

Robyn felt like throwing up.

Or rather, coughing. He starts to anxiously look around, shifting where he is standing. “Oh uh- yeah! Hannah! We have so much stuff to talk about-!” He rambled on a little, standing frozen in the middle of the cafe, not being able to find any sort of motivation or energy to move. Sure, he could not hide his hanahaki from Alex, but he is his roommate. Hannah could not know about this, in no world. She would just worry- or think of solutions that clearly won’t work- or act differently- and she certainly does not need something like this in her head in general, this is not one of her problems, but one of Robyn’s.

“Yeah!” Hannah puts down a rag she has been holding on the counter and makes her way to her old friend. “I mean- we have not seen each other in years, and so much has changed! And I am saving up for this /amazing/ college, which is why I am here- and you are probably here because you are a writer and work in a cafe on the side, right!? Like you always wanted!? And have you already published a book!? I have so many questions, but right now I am just so happy to see you!” Hannah could not help but ramble a little, hugging the other, who, though he is rather shocked, is, in fact, happy to see the shorter one.

“I uh- not really. But it’s incredible to see you! And it’s so great that- we are- working- together- every day-.” Hannah frowns, looking up. “Are you okay?” Robyn nods, though clearly uncomfortable. He starts to cough a little, though keeps his mouth as closed as possible. “I’m” -cough- “fine- just” -cough- “Give me a moment.-” He said, and backed away a little, stepping backwards, until almost stumbling and then just turning around, heading for the employee bathroom. 

-

“Hey! Are you okay?” Hannah asks, now again behind the counter, wiping it down with the rug she has previously left on it. “Oh- yes I am wonderful-..” Robyn says, though unsure, as always regarding this topic. He coughed up four petals- four petals in one go- that’s more than he ever has before. It felt weird, more painful than usual. “Whatever you say, bud.” she glances suspiciously but then continues to clean the counter. Quickly looking at the clock reveals that the cafe opens in ten minutes. 

“So uh-.” Robyn starts to make his way to the counter and kitchen area, mostly just to look around and explore the cafe a bit. “How are things? Are you still in contact with the squad from high school?” As if on cue, John walks into the cafe. He is already wearing the grey blouse and black pants, the orange apron is folded up, and draped over his left arm. “Hey, Hannah!” He says, a smile plastered on his freckled face. “Good morning, love!” Hannah chirps in reply, and Robyn, he, just kind of stand there, giving an awkward wave. “Guess who our new co-worker is~!” The brunette chirps, gesturing towards Robyn like she is an inventor revealing her newest product. John looks at the taller man and gives him a nod. “Good to see ya, Ro.” He said as he makes his way to the counter and puts on his apron. 

“Yeah- good to see you guys too.” He replies with a quick nod, looking away a little. “Anyway, I will go and take a look in the kitchen, if I have read the programme correctly we need to have a batch of scones by 7 am?” Robyn notes, opening the door to the kitchen, and the other two nod firmly. Robyn leaves the two alone, looking around in the kitchen. He still feels somewhat dizzy, and a little short of breath. The kitchen looks just as elaborate as the rest of the cafe; mostly made out of oak wood, the occasional golden detail, and gorgeous glass tiles. Though honestly, it really is not what Robyn is focussing on right now. 

‘It’s pathetic, really. This is bound to go wrong, all of this. You are weak. You can’t handle all of this. You would kill yourself before you could possibly earn enough money for surgery.’ the voice in Robyn’s head echoed, it felt like it was some demon that was living in his mind. “Shut up-.” he mutters, looking around for a recipe book that was supposed to be somewhere around here. 

‘Ha- haha-.’ laughter could be heard, in a nearly mocking tone. Robyn finds the book, mindlessly flipping through it, trying to find the scone recipe. ‘You’re so worthless, you know? Out of everyone in the family you eat the most, you are the most work, you are the one who is pulling your family down. You are the one who is ruining everything.’ Robyn bites his lip, trying to just ignore it now. But ignoring it won’t work, the voice does not get bored when you ignore it. It just gets louder and louder until-. “Everything alright in here?” John asks, having opened the kitchen door, looking at Robyn who stares down at the scone recipe as if it has murdered his cat. 

“Oh- uh yeah. Yeah, I’m great. Wonderful, even! Yup-. I am just going to go make these scones now-. I’m good.” John gave him a suspicious look but shrugged. “If you say so-.” “I do say so-. So- You can leave now-.” “Sure.” And with that the smaller man left the kitchen, leaving Robyn alone and in disarray. He shook his head, putting the book down and looking down at the recipe. Though, no actually reading. Just kind of staring down at it, thinking. He did start acting a little off lately, though, he never really manages to notice.

‘I’ll leave you alone. If you manage to not fuck everything up that is.’ instead of agreeing, nodding, or doing anything like that, he just ignores the voice. It can’t actually harm him after all, it’s just a voice. 

-

It’s 7 am now,

it took some time, but Robyn managed to make some pretty decent pastries with the help of John every now and then. Apparently neither he nor his lover is usually in charge of baking, however, the guy that’s supposed to do that isn’t around on Mondays. 

Robyn emerges from the kitchen with a tray of scones, having to put them in one of the vitrines like things next to the counter. “Okay so- I finished up this batch, and they’re not the best- but accepta-.” Robyn shut himself up when he noticed Hannah talking to a customer, taking orders for what sounded like tea. John was mindlessly standing next to her, still cleaning the counter, seen as they were behind schedule a tad bit. 

 

Robyn took a second to glance around the cafe, only just now realising that this truly is a rather luxe place; having many golden details here and there, and expensive looking tables and chairs. 

Earlier, John had explained that the first couple of hours were generally boring and sometimes awkward, seeing as there always is one point where there are too many employees for the amount of work. This must be one of those moments. To pass time, Robyn decides to glance at the customers. One of them he recognised from the bus; he didn’t look much different than he did yesterday, and also appeared a lot more like a normal human. Robyn glared daggers at him nonetheless, the only three people who get to pet him are Frederica and Anne.

The second one is smaller, having ginger-brown-ish hair, and much like John, some freckles on his face. He dressed much more like a normal person compared to the other, and also seemed rather uncomfortable. Upon glancing a little longer, okay maybe by now it could be classified as staring, whatever. Anyway- he noticed that the taller one was, in fact, holding the other’s hand. No, not holding his hand- his arm, just above his wrist. Robyn got a bit of an odd feeling from the entire thing. 

Eventually, the two left, having placed their orders and going to sit somewhere upstairs. Upstairs is mostly just a big lounge around an open fire, with a couple of tables in the corners. “They’re regulars here,” Hannah explained, starting to boil water for the tea they have ordered. “Their names are George and Samuel, but prefer to be called King and Sam,” Robyn could already imagine who is who, and frowned a little. John noticed this and nodded a little. “Yeah- they’re both kind of odd. But for what we know King is rich, extremely rich. So we don’t really care about what he does. Mostly because he always gives these absurdly high tips, and because he is the only one who really buys the most expensive things on our menu. And Sam-. We don’t know much about him, we just know that he’s always near King, and gets pretty much whatever he wants. Point is; stay on their good side if you’re looking for money.” Robyn listens along, somewhat, at least.

“Here.” Hannah hands him two cups of tea, both of them having some fancy milk foam design on the surface. “Bring this to them-. That’ll give you another chance to sort of… See what kind of people they are.” A little unsure, though not really able to argue with the other, Roby nods and makes his way to the upstairs area. There he finds the two customers in the lounge area, around the open fire -which hasn’t been turned on yet, it’s too early for that, especially in late spring-. King is sprawled over some of the cushions on the floor, reading a magazine. Sam is next to him, resting his head on the other’s shoulder and presumably reading along.

“Hey, I got your ord-” “Ah! Thank you, beau.” King said, not letting the other finish his sentence. Robyn flinched hearing that nickname. King noticed. He hands the two their drinks and was about to turn around when King spoke up again. “You know, Robyn, if you prefer a different nickname you’ll just have to tell me.” He said with a chuckle, voice full of a British accent. Robyn frowns, how does King know his name? He doesn’t wear a nametag- his is still being made. “How do y-” “Oh I know-. You like being called ‘pup’, right?” Knowing Robyn’s first name is one thing, knowing the nickname that his sort of love interest used to call him in high school is a whole other level of just plain creepy. King chuckles “How I enjoy watching the new ones in this part of the city-. There are so many things that you’ll find out soon enough. Anyway-. Thanks for the tea.” With a quick nod, Robyn leaves the two alone, just now realising how quiet Samuel stayed through the entire conversation. 

A shiver went down his spine, unsure of what to think of the odd men. “How’d it go?” Hannah asks, currently walking around between tables and taking orders. “It was- certainly something,” he responded slowly, choosing his words as carefully as he could. Hannah sighs, nodding. “I know-. You’ll get used to them at one point.” One of the customers waved for her. “Okay, don’t chat too much during work- hehe. Go help John with making coffee, that’s what most people want around this time anyway.” With a quick nod as a ‘goodbye’, Hannah quickly rushes over to the table where she was needed, and Robyn made his way back behind the counter. John glances up at him, currently working one of the several coffee machines. “How’d it go?” He asks, mindlessly continuing to make the coffee. Robyn shrugs, glancing at the list of orders for a moment. “Odd.” He answered plainly, deciding to just make more tea for now. “You don’t know the half of it.”

\---

“Okay, so-. That one time it was late at night, right? And I swear to god- when King came by, I could see his eyes /glowing/.” It’s around 8 pm now, and the cafe would close in an hour. Hannah was sitting on the counter, Robyn leaning against the wall opposite to her, and John draped over one of the chairs. “Oh please- that wasn’t him, but his inner demon.” Robyn retorted, finally remembering why exactly he was friends with these people

The last hour of the cafe being open is generally calm, because who goes to a cafe around/after dinner time? So it’s like being paid to hang out somewhere after dark. Nice. “okay okay-. But honestly-. What has happened in the last couple of years for you two? It feels like so much has changed!” The tallest one notes, taking another sip of the coffee he has been holding. 

“Alright-. Right after graduation, I started looking for places to study law, which I did! Though, I have always wanted to work as an actress- kind of a childhood dream of mine.” Hannah chuckles a little. “And thanks to John I was able to follow that dream. It’s just a little thing I am doing on the side though, I still want to be a lawyer.” Robyn nods along with the story the other is telling. “Ambitious.” He concludes, taking another sip of his coffee. He turns to glance at John “you?”

John shrugs a little, keeping his eyes fixed on the paper cup in his hands. “Haven’t thought about it too much lately. I do enjoy theatre, though more as a hobby. And besides that, I have been studying business management. Alex -you remember him-, he and I were pretty close friends with the guy who owns Zephyrus, though, Alex hasn’t been around too much lately. Point is- I am thinking about maybe owning the place after Washington.” After taking a quick sip of his coffee he continues. “Actual plans don’t really exist yet I guess.” 

“What’s up with Alex then?” Robyn asks, cocking his head to the side. He decided on keeping the fact that the two of them being roommates a secret for now. “He has been acting odd I guess. Not meeting up with us as often as he used to, talking and walking in a different manner, being really secretive, etc.” Robyn frowns at that, not having noticed behaviour like that. 

“Honestly, right now I am far more interested in what you’ve been up to!” Hannah notes, eyes lingering on Robyn for a second before turning her attention back to her cup of coffee.

Robyn thinks for a moment, knowing he wasn’t about to sell what has really happened over the past few years. His father has died only a few months before he left the high school he went to with Hannah, John and the others, at the time it wasn’t something he wanted to share, and it still isn’t. “I uhh-. Have been working, and…” He thinks for a second, ‘just say whatever stupid thing you wish you would have done’ the little voice scolds, and Robyn decides to do just that. “I finally started writing more! And I am currently working on this elaborate fantasy-ish world where there are these islands with kingdoms in the middle of the Atlantic! And It has these problematic citizens and some weird things are happening and I have already worked out most of the characters, actually! And the first book will be about this cafe in one of the more ‘normal’ villages on Hǽrü called the midnight rose cafe and-” Robyn glances at the other’s happy, but mostly just confused faces. “Yeah, I’m great.” “That’s good!” 

It didn’t take long until the three closed the cafe up, and said their goodbyes. Hannah and Robyn found out that they walk pretty much the same way back home, apparently not living apart too far. “I really didn’t expect to see you again so soon, but I’m glad that we’re at the same cafe. It was really starting to get boring.” Hannah muttered in the cold February air, her breath showing a little in the light from the streets. “Yeah, I was hoping for distraction from.. something. But I guess this works too.” 

The shorter one glances up at Robyn with a frown, “Distraction? Are you okay?” she questioned and the other quickly nodded. “Okay? Yes, of course! I’m fine!” He exclaimed, scolding himself for being a terrible liar. However, Hannah appeared to buy it, or at least, act as if she did. 

“A-Anyway- my apartment is in this building, so, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Robyn suggested, already grabbing his keys from his bag. Hannah’s frown just deepens, clearly suspicious. “Sure-.” A quick smile appears on her face before she waves her friend off. 

-

Robyn makes his way up the stairs. What. A. Day.

He opens the door to his apartment, preparing for a short evening of relaxation, maybe make some tea-. “You canNOT do something like that!” A somewhat familiar female voice screeches, it belongs to none other than Angelica Schuyler. Right next to her, looking down at her with crossed arms, Thomas Jefferson. “This is /my/ building I can do what I want.” “We both know this one apartment is not yours, it’s Alex’s!” “Oh please, you know nothing.” 

Robyn sighs and decides to ignore the two, and instead sits down on the couch next to Alex. “So uh- what’s going on?” He questions, knowing better than to ask the question to the two others. “When Angie found out about Thomas letting someone rent this apartment /again/ she got mad pissed and now there’s a catfight in our living room.” 

“How about you just ask if him if he does or does not mind? Hm?” Thomas said after giving the other two on the couch a quick glare. “Fine.” “Fine.” “/Fine/.” The two stare at Robyn expectantly, and he just kind of shrugs. “I mean- it’s really cheap. And Alex and I get along okay, right?” he mutters, and Alex just kind of adds a “Yeah I guess.” 

It felt as if Robyn was a kid all over again. Being sat down next to his sibling while his parents fought. Angelica’s phone rings, she quickly snatches it from her purse, and after looking at the contact groans. “This is /not/ over Thomas!” She said firmly before leaving the room. Why did everyone have to be so mysterious about everything in this corner of New York? 

Thomas scoffs as he watches the door close. “Angelica should stay out of my business. He mutters and glances at the other two on the couch. as if he was expecting them to reply, agree or disagree or something along those lines. Robyn shrugs, looking away and making an awkward noise in the bag of his throat. “I mean- I guess.” Robyn has always felt awkward around Thomas. It’s not like he hates him- he just doesn’t necessarily enjoy his company. He used to, he really used to. Thomas and he did sort of date for a while, but it really didn’t work out. The two wanted different things in a relationship. 

The entire thing ended with Robyn eventually disagreeing on some topics regarding how much time Robyn spends with other people. It really was a wreck. 

“I honestly don’t mind you sending people to live with me, I appreciate you trying to hook me up however I am a taken man.” Alex jokes and gets up, stretching a little. 

“Anyway- Have you shown your newest rentee office yet? Isn’t that something that you’re supposed to do on the first day?” Alex questions with a glare, really not caring about the office, rather about finding some sort of way to annoy Thomas. “As a matter of fact, I have not.” 

“You- /fine/” Thomas mutters, seen as Alex did have a point. It’s something that is buried deep inside a contract everyone who rents an apartment here has had to sign; a quick tour around the building a including the house owner’s office, for complaints and such. Thomas snatches Robyn’s arm and pulls him up. It feels oddly familiar. “C’mon pup, there is no real point, however, I am assuming that Alex just wants his ‘alone time’.” Robyn complied, deciding against speaking up. There was that nickname again… God, it feels weird. 

Thomas and Robyn leave the apartment, Thomas clearly not amused. “This is the most useless thing I have done all week- however, I am NOT in the mood to argue with anyone for the rest of the day. Guess I might as well actually lead your around if you haven’t found your way yourself yet.” the other stays silent, feeling a little tense. “I’m good, I just have a question.” “Sure, what’s up?” 

“Do you know a George King?” He asks, unsure of how to talk about this. Thomas stops in his tracks and visibly tenses. “How do you know about that man?” Robyn gasps “So you do know him!” He exclaims and Thomas quickly shoves his hand over the other’s mouth. “Shut up. This isn’t something people should hear.” 

Thomas grabs Robyn’s arm again and pulls him the last couple of feet to his office, once both inside he locks the door behind him. “Now tell me. How do you know King?” Thomas questions, Robyn cocks his head to the side, wondering why this was so big of a deal. “I met him in the cafe today- nothing special. He just… I thought he might know you? It’s stupid anyway, I shouldn’t be here, Alex is probably already done making ‘dinner’- instant noodles y’know?” Thomas sighs deeply, clearly not having the patience to deal with this. Today must’ve been a pretty shitty day. 

“Why would you assume I know him?” Thomas hisses and Robyn just shrugs. “Well, now I’m certain. But um- the nickname is all.” “Nickname?” “Yeah, uh- pup. King called me that. And the only other person who did that, ever, was you.” Thomas groans “Of COURSE King would be like /that/. Just get out and I’ll deal with this.” 

Before he even knows it Robyn is shoved in the general direction of the door, while Thomas digs for his phone somewhere in his jeans pocket. “Get out? Excuse me, but I have a couple more questions that might concern-.” “Out.” 

\---

“Heya Ro,

since neither of us really own a decent phone, and other stuff might be too unhandy, I thought we could just write letters to each other, right!?

I just want to tell you that I love and appreciate you, best of luck with working at the cafe. 

You better update me on all the drama.

-Anne.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is longer than I intended it to be. Oh well.


End file.
